Chapter 12 – Peryite
Jauffre walked into the Council Chambers, where the group was assembled. At first he wondered why so few remained, but the look on their faces said it all. They had suffered many losses on their journey through Oblivion.
"I have information regarding Peryite from one of our spies" he said, approaching the large table and sitting down on a free chair.
"I shall give you some background first" Jauffre continued. "Until recently, it was thought that there were no shrines to Peryite in Morrowind, but recently one was found in Vvardenfell, located in a cave near the village of Hla Oad. Nobody had set foot in the cave for a long time as it was inhabited by bandits. However, recently the Fighters' Guild cleared out the cave, a contract given to them by followers of Peryite. It transpired that the followers had built a shrine to Peryite in the cave but the bandits had forced them out of the cave when they decided to make it their home. Peryite was pleased that the Guild had helped his followers get their shrine back, and rewarded them with a golden statuette of himself. The Guild had no use for this statue, so they sold it to raise money for the Guild"
"Who did they sell it to?" Storm asked. "If it was a merchant it will be quite hard to track down"
"They sold it to the Museum of Artifacts in Mournhold" Jauffre said. "Which is a double-edged sword. We can get to the statuette but it will be heavily guarded"
Arzel pointed to his glass amulet. "I'm sure they can be persuaded to part with it"
"I'm afraid those amulets have no power outside of Cyrodiil" Chancellor Ocato said. "So we are going to have to break into the museum and steal the statue" Ciara said.
"No" Jauffre said. "It is heavily guarded around the clock. We are going to have to launch an attack on the museum and seize the statue"
Overlook Road, Mania, Shivering Isles
Hermaeus Mora walked brisky along the road that ran along the top of the ridge. He truly admired the realm that Jyggalag and Sheogorath had created between them, particularly the Mania district. Bright colours erupted from everywhere – the grass was a lurid, luminous grey, bright purple mushrooms sprouted all around him, and enormous orange mushroom trees vaulted up towards the skyline. Strange orange lights, which looked almost like will-o-the-wisps, floated around, darting between rocks and trees. Even the rocks were a dark purple as opposed to grey. Every time he or the two Mazken accompanying him were hungry they could simply pick an alocasia fruit from one of the many plants bearing them, the most divine taste Hermaeus had ever experienced.
"We must leave the road and head southwards now" one of the Mazken, Ariha, said. She was a scout and knew the back-country well. Also with her was Grakedrik Jarel, Grakedrik meaning 'Commander' in the Mazken language.
"Lead on" Jarel said to Ariha. "Knifepoint Hollow is close"
Shortly, the three of them reached a cave entrance. Ariha walked in, followed by Hermaeus and finally Jarel. They found themselves in a tall passageway that seemed to have been hollowed out of the roots of the enormous tree above the cave.
The passageway emerged in what appeared to be the ruins of an ancient fortress. A flesh atronach guarded the chamber the passageway emerged in, but Ariha quickly drew her bow and delivered an arrow to the atronach's head.
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"A visitor" the elderly man said. "I have not had one of those for a while"
Hermaeus walked into the dark room, Ariha and Jarel standing guard behind him. They were deep inside Knifepoint Hollow.
"Dyus, I presume?" Hermaeus said. "I am Hermaeus Mora, Daedric Prince of the past, the future and the fabric of space and time"
"What do you want?"
"You are the keeper of the Library of Jyggalag, are you not?"
"That is right" Dyus said. "When the Library was destroyed, Jyggalag passed all of its knowledge onto me. Then I was captured by Sheogorath and imprisoned here"
"You know everything there is to know" Hermaeus said, approaching Dyus. Dyus nodded.
"Look into my eyes" Hermaeus said. "You are an open book"
The pair locked eyes, Hermaeus staring deep into the very reaches of Dyus' mind. Nobody knew it, but as he did, Apocrypha, Hermaeus' repository of knowledge, began to grow. Thousands upon thousands of bookshelves, stacked with identical-looking books with no covers or titles, began filling the void around Apocrypha.
"Now I face the most difficult and time-consuming task of all" Hermaeus said. With that, he vanished into a portal and returned to Apocrypha.
Mournhold Godsreach, Morrowind
Storm was the first to emerge from his room of the Winged Guar that morning. They had arrived in Mournhold by caravan late the previous night, after a long 2-day journey, and had spent the night in the inn. They had dressed down to look like a band of casual adventurers – Storm had left Dagon's Sigil stone and the Sword of Jyggalag back in the Elder Council Chambers, under the guard of Jauffre and his Blades. He was wearing high-quality fur armour instead of the Mithril suit he normally wore, and Arzel had replaced parts of his Dwarven suit of armour with lower-quality iron armour. They were carrying only one unique item – a magical Daedric dagger taken from the Arcane University's Mystic Archives. They had to look as inconspicuous as possible. They were a band of adventurers, in Mournhold to sell this dagger to the Museum of Artifacts.
Ciara emerged next, shortly followed by Arzel. Storm motioned them to sit around a table in the corner of the inn. Storm had become the group's spiritual leader after the departure of Marina and Agam-Na – the other two trusted his intuition and combat prowess, and neither of them particularly wanted to have to bear the burden of leading the quest.
"OK, this is the plan" Storm said quietly to prevent any outsiders from hearing. "The caravan we took here was drawn by two horses. Those are our means of escape. The caravaner will abandon the vehicle when he sees us. Arzel, you take one of the horses. Ciara, you will be my passenger on the other one. Once we have seized the statue from the museum, we run as fast as we can to the city gates. The caravan will be waiting just outside them"
"Then what?" Arzel asked.
"Then we head west along the main road back to Cyrodiil" Storm said. "At a good pace we can be in Cheydinhal by nightfall. The guards will probably pursue us but we will cross that bridge when we come to it"
"I'm ready to go" Ciara said. "How about you, boys?"
"Let's do it!" Arzel said, standing up. The three of them walked out of the Winged Guar to embark upon possibly the most dangerous part of the quest so far.
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As the three entered the Museum of Artifacts, an elderly Dunmer woman approached them.
"Greetings, I am Torasa Aram, curator of the Museum" she said. "I am guessing you are a band of adventurers?"
"That's correct" Storm said. "We have something you may want to see"
Storm drew the Daedric dagger from a small hilt on his belt. It glowed red from the fire enchantment that had been placed on it.
"We found it whilst exploring a Dwemer ruin" Arzel said. Torasa examined the blade.
"It looks like quite a common piece of Daedric craftsmanship with a standard fire enchantment" Torasa said. "Valuable, but not rare enough for our museum, I'm afraid. Perhaps one of the traders in the Great Bazaar will pay good money for it, though"
"Oh well, thanks anyway" Storm said disappointedly, taking the dagger back and placing it on his hilt.
"Feel free to look around while you are here, though" Torasa said. "The majority of our collection is upstairs"
Storm walked up the staircase, followed by Ciara and Arzel. All the time he was discreetly examining how the building was guarded. One guard stood at the bottom of the stairs, another by the doorway. Those two could not be evaded. Two guards stood at either end of the upper floor. They could be outrun.
The upper floor was a maze of pedestals, some of which had items upon them. A colossal warhammer – the Hammer of Stendarr. It was a weapon of such mass that no mortal could even lift it, let alone fight with it. On another pedestal was a katana forged from a gold metal with an ebony handle – Goldbrand, the legendary sword. Storm briefly wondered how it had got from the possession of Bendu Olo to Mournhold. Finally, on a pedestal at the far side of the room was a gold statuette about a foot in height of a dragon-like figure – Peryite.
It was time for action. Arzel and Storm stood near the two guards, looking at exhibits, whilst Ciara wandered towards the statue of Peryite.
"Go!" she shouted, picking up the statue of Peryite and throwing it into a small bag on her belt. The instant she did so, the whole building erupted into chaos. Storm, Arzel and the two guards on the top floor all drew their swords at the same time and began fighting. Ciara drew her bow and ran for the staircase leading to the ground floor. The guard who had been standing at the bottom of the stairs ran for her, but she was prepared. She drew her bow and nocked an arrow that had been tipped with a fast-acting poison. All the arrow had to do was strike flesh…
Aiming in an instant, she fired the arrow. It hit the guard in the arm just above his gauntlet, ripping through the netch-leather covering his upper arm. The guard writhed in agony before falling to the ground, dead.
Arzel and Storm, still expertly holding off the two guards, began to back towards the stairwell. The guards were too heavily armoured to be able to fight in straight battle – this would be a battle of defence and evasion.
"Storm, I'm taking the dagger!" Ciara said. Storm felt Ciara take the enchanted Daedric dagger from the small hilt on his belt as he delivered a well-placed blow which knocked the guard's sword from his hand.
"Surrender and I'll let you live" Storm said to the unarmed guard. But the guard swung his fist at Storm, the heavy gauntlet delivering a powerful punch and knocking Storm to the ground.
Arzel saw this happening, and he also saw the guard retrieving his weapon. He looked around. Ciara was running down the stairs, brandishing the magical dagger.
"Ciara! Give me some cover!" he called down the stairs. Ciara raced back up the stairs, where she saw Arzel trying to fight off both guards whilst Storm regained his footing. Ciara leapt forwards and sunk the blade into the chest of one of the guards, the powerful dagger slicing through his armour like a knife through butter.
"Go! Go!" Arzel shouted as Storm got on his feet and drew his weapon. He ran down the stairs and leapt forwards, clashing with the guard who had been guarding the door. The guard was knocked to the ground by the force of the momentum behind Storm. Storm held his sword to the guard's throat.
"Stay down!" he ordered. "Arzel, Ciara! Get out, now!"
Ciare leapt over the pair and out of the door back into Godsreach. Arzel finally delivered the killing blow to the guard he was fighting and followed her. Storm stood up, smashing the handle of his sword down on the other guard's forehead and knocking him unconscious. He saw Tovasa staring at him in despair.
"Believe me, we really need this statue" Storm said. "I promise I will return it"
With that, he ran out into Godsreach to join the other two.
By now, guards were swarming towards the Museum of Artifacts, led by Ordinator Alveras.
"Do not leave them alive" he bellowed. "They have earnt the death sentence for their crimes"
Storm raced through Godsreach, Ciara behind him and Arzel at the back. Fortunately, they had to leave Godsreach by the south gate and the guard barracks were next to the north gate – there was a possibility they could escape without a fight.
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Palace of Azura, Moonshadow
Meridia and Azura walked through the beautiful private gardens of Azura's palace.
"Our involvement in the salvation of Nirn becomes deeper by the day, Meridia" Azura said. "The mortals are finding it difficult to continue in their quest"
"Why is that?" Meridia asked. "I know that they suffered losses in the Realm of Order and Dagon's plane…"
"Since then, Agam-Na and Dramas Telvanni have left the group. Agam-Na, driven out by Dramas' constant challenges to his authority. Dramas, expelled for planning sabotage against the group so he could emerge the true hero"
"Foolish Dunmer" Meridia said. "I believe he has always thought he was capable of completing this task single-handedly"
"Can you blame him?" Azura said. "Before this began, he was the only one who one may have considered a 'hero'. But it is a shame about Agam-Na"
"I have faith that he will emerge the hero from these times" Meridia said.
"Maybe. But we are digressing. Word has it they have just recovered the essence of Peryite from Morrowind. But there are two more Daedra involved in this plot – Vaermina and Malacath. They have no artifacts readily available and their realms are, for all intents and purposes, inaccessible to mortals"
"So we have to help them?"
"Yes. Hermaeus has acquired the Library of Jyggalag, a record of every single event that has ever happened. He is trying to find the whereabouts of Volendrung"
"What about Vaermina?"
"Well, I am taking that into my own hands, so to speak" Azura said.
"Azura, you don't have to talk around the issue" Meridia said. "I am aware that you have an ulterior motive for helping the mortals in their quest"
Azura sighed. "You're right. For many years Vaermina has haunted me. Every night is a terrifying journey through hideous nightmares sent by her. This is my chance to rid myself of my torment"
"You plan to defeat her yourself? Invade Quagmire?"
"Not exactly" Azura said. "Follow me"
The two Daedric Princesses walked through the garden, Azura leading Meridia towards a balcony that overlooked a large expanse of grassland to the south. What Meridia saw truly amazed her – thousands upon thousands of Winged Twilights, standing in organised ranks, filling up the enormous plain.
"Vaermina plans to invade Moonshadow" Azura said. "And I will be ready for her"
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Mournhold, Plaza Brisindi Dorom, Morrowind
As the three ran through the gate into the grand plaza, they were accosted by two guards, but Storm and Arzel cut them down where they stood. The end was now in sight…
Storm ran across the plaza, but soon realised the other two were lagging behind, and the guards were gaining on them. Arzel was not as athletic as Storm, and wearing heavier armour, and Ciara was weighed down by the solid gold statue.
"Arzel! Form up!" Storm shouted. "Ciara, give us cover!"
He turned and raced back towards the other two. Arzel spun round and drew his shield in front of him, waiting to face the guards, whilst Ciara drew her bow and fired at one of the guards. The arrow struck the guard square in the chest, puncturing through it but not reaching flesh. It still served as a warning – these three could easily hold their ground. The instant Storm caught up with Arzel and Ciara, the guards reached them. Arzel used his shield to block a downward swordstroke from one of the guards, whilst Storm leapt out of the path of another guard who was charging at him with a warhammer. The enormous weight of the guard's weapon carried him forwards, and Storm swung around and drove his sword into the exposed flesh at the top of the guard's spine, killing him instantly. As he did so, an arrow sailed passed him and collided with another guard square in the forehead.
"That should buy us some time! Let's go!" Storm shouted. Ciara began to backpedal, firing carefully-aimed arrows at the guards, until the other two caught up with her and they began to race towards the city gates.
Outside, the caravaner heard the commotion. This was his signal. He de-attached the horses from the caravan and ran.
He had got around ten paces from the caravan when an arrow struck him in the temple and killed him.
"Now, we wait" the Mythic Dawn assassin said coldly.
"We should send the signal" his partner said. "Now that we know the group are here"
The assassin cast a light high into the sky. It wasn't very bright, especially in the daylight, but the others would be watching for it. They would notice it.
"Mythic Dawn!" a voice shouted near the gates. "Take them down!"
"We've been spotted!"
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Storm had sighted the two red-robed figures by the caravan, as well as the signal being cast. He cottoned on to their plan immediately. Now the three of them were here, more Mythic Dawn men would be on their way to the Imperial City to re-capture the Daedric artifacts. They had to move quickly.
The three charged towards the two Mythic Dawn agents. Before they had reached them, Ciara took one down with her bow, and Arzel easily killed the other.
"They're good thinkers but not very good at fighting" Arzel said as he climbed onto one of the horses. Storm and Ciara mounted the other one.
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Elder Council Chambers, Imperial Palace
Legion Commander Adamus Phillida sat down next to Chancellor Ocato.
"The reason I have brought you here is simple" Ocato said. "We are once again at risk of invasion from the Daedra"
"I have heard of this" Adamus said. "Jauffre has informed me. He thought I should know"
"Jauffre let details of our predicament out?" Ocato said angrily. "Jauffre, of all people! I suppose he did the right thing, though"
"What are your orders, Chancellor?"
"We are currently most at risk of invasion by Vaermina, and possibly by Malacath. The Blades are currently attempting to discover the size of their armies, and what beings make them up. I need the entire Legion placed on red alert all the way across Tamriel. We need round-the-clock patrols everywhere, and I mean everywere. We need everything we've got"
"It shall be done, Chancellor. I only hope the Legion is strong enough. We have not yet fully recovered from the Dagon crisis…"
"I have one last trick up my sleeve" Ocato said. "Meridia and Sheogorath have both agreed to send soldiers to aid Tamriel should an invasion occur. The Aurorans, Mazken and Aureal will all be under your command"
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Outside Mournhold, Morrowind
Two horses raced down the main road from Mournhold, which ran west into Cyrodiil. Storm and Ciara rode one horse, Arzel the other. Ciara had quickly made and consumed a strong life-detection potion from a handful of ingredients she was carrying, and constantly looked around for the Mythic Dawn agents they were pursuing. They had to be nearby otherwise they wouldn't have been able to see the signal that the agents in Mournhold had cast.
Ciara began to see a slight purple haze, confined to three small patches, on the road in front of them. Gradually, the patches began to get brighter.
"Three in front of us, moving quickly on our course" Ciara said to Storm as she drew her bow. Soon, the three Mythic Dawn agents on horseback came into view. Ciara fired her bow, taking down one of them. The other two halted and turned round to face Storm and Arzel, who began to charge at them.
"Take the reins!" Storm shouted, passing them back to Ciara as he drew his sword. "Just keep us in a straight line!"
Storm and Arzel raced past the two Mythic Dawn agents as the four horsemen clashed. Storm swung his sword at one, hewing his head clean from his body, but the other was prepared for Arzel, summoning a Daedric shield just in time to block Arzel's swordstroke. The impact knocked Arzel clean off his horse, and he fell clumsily to the ground. He looked up and saw the Mythic Dawn horse rearing above him, ready to trample him to death…
When an arrow slammed into the side of the horse's head in a star-shaped explosion of blood. The horse slumped to the ground, dead, as Arzel leapt to his feet and plunged his sword into the Mythic Dawn man who had been riding it.
"That was close" he said, sheathing his sword.
"Come on, we can still be back in Cyrodiil by nightfall"
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At the same moment, in a bed in Weynon Priory in Chorrol, a building that had been offered as a safe house, an Argonian lay awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling, the same three words reverberating around his head over and over again.
Redguard Valley Cave.